El Paso leaders split over rezoning

900 acres near Franklin Mtns.

Vilas Bhuchar, Nov 30, 10.

The El Paso Water Utility and Mayor John Cook are at odds with City Council members who want to rezone 900 acres on the west side of the Franklin Mountains so they cannot be developed, according to The El Paso Times.

The utility and Mayor John Cook say rezoning would kill an $80 million highway project, force ratepayers to miss a $20 million windfall, and inhibit development of nearby areas, notes the story.

City Rep. Susie Byrd, on the other hand, said she is simply trying to have a say in how the widening of Trans Mountain Road to I-10 is done rather than stop it altogether, adds the story:

Byrd said state highway officials were trying to steamroll the City Council into accepting their highway plan.

“They’re making zoning decisions for us. That seems wrong to me,” she said.

For his part, water utility President and CEO Ed Archuleta said he resented being drawn into the fight over how wide Trans Mountain Road should be and how many interchanges it should have.

“I don’t think the zoning of this should be tied to the Trans Mountain issue,” he said.

The utility manages 26,000 acres in El Paso from which it collects water. But the utility answers to the City Council, which has final say over what is done with the land and how it is zoned.

The City Council on Oct. 12 voted 5-2 to begin the process to change the zoning of a 900-acre parcel about half a mile west of the Franklin Mountain State Park on both sides of Trans Mountain Road.

It is currently zoned for residential development. But Byrd and fellow Reps. Beto O’Rourke, Steve Ortega, Ann Morgan Lilly and Eddie Holguin voted to start the process to require that it remain undeveloped.

“We want to control sprawl in our community, and we don’t want to mar one of our greatest assets,” the mountain vistas, Byrd said.

Archuleta, though, said the parcel is not high enough for development to affect scenic views. Besides, he said, development was called for in a $750,000 master plan that the City Council approved in 2005.

“We thought we had a good plan that everybody accepted, but now people are saying ‘no,’ ” Archuleta said.

The plan sets aside about 400 acres for open space. That is in addition to about 8,000 acres the city has donated to the state park since 1989, Archuleta said.

Cook sides with Archuleta.

“The Public Service Board has been very sensitive to environmental issues,” said Cook, who as mayor sits as a member of the board.

If the City Council prohibits development, it will be impossible for the utility to sell the land or to install a basic structure to provide water to the surrounding area, Archuleta said.

The utility periodically sells land and uses the proceeds to hold down its debt and its rates, Archuleta said. He said there would be no immediate rate increase if the water utility cannot sell the 900-acre parcel for an estimated $20 million.

Last week, the Public Service Board, which governs the water utility, adopted a resolution condemning the City Council’s move to rezone the land.

“The language and the tone of it is incredibly combative,” O’Rourke said. “I don’t think this helps their relationship with the city.”

For some members of the City Council, the paramount issue is whether rezoning the land would put the highway project in jeopardy. Cook says it would.

“I will veto any action by the City Council that will jeopardize the highway project,” he said.

City Rep. Carl Robinson said he will support the mayor if there is a veto. Overriding it would take the votes of six of the eight council members.

“We cannot afford to lose that $80 million,” said Robinson, who along with city Rep. Emma Acosta, voted against starting the rezoning process.

But would rezoning derail the highway project?

Byrd wants the Texas Department of Transportation to modify the plan to eliminate the interchange that would be closest to the state park and to narrow the roadway.

She said an open space designation would not kill it.

Chuck Berry, the Transportation Department’s district engineer, disagreed.

He said last week in an e-mail to Cook and the council that rezoning could doom the highway expansion.

“To be clear, the changes and additional restrictions could add substantial costs due to land acquisition and engineering that are not budgeted and could add many months to the delivery of the project,” Berry wrote. “In fact, it is entirely possible that these issues could jeopardize our ability to deliver the project at all.”

Ortega could be a swing vote if Cook vetoes the rezoning. He wants to protect the land, but not if it kills the highway project.

He said the city has more than a month to determine whether rezoning will delay the expansion. The Transportation Department still must complete an environmental assessment, which is due in early December.